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| Kratos finishing off a bunch of skeletons with his Blades of Exile. The green bar is his life; the blue his magic bar; and the yellow his item bar. The circle shows what weapons he currently is equipped with. |
Picking up right where God of War II left off, Spartan killing machine Kratos has had enough of Zeus and the rest of the Greek Pantheon making his life a living Hell and is storming Mount Olympus with the Titans. But Kratos soon learns that to kill Zeus he has to dispel the Flame of Olympus and open Pandora’s Box, and to do that he must first find Pandora somewhere in Mount Olympus.
God of War III is a combat-oriented game. Kratos travels along a linear path, fighting Greek monsters along the way, or getting trapped in an area and not allowed to proceed until he kills everything around him.
Kratos has a light attack, and heavy attack, a grab, can dodge, and can block; stringing these attacks together makes Kratos use more effective combo attacks. There does not need to be many combos, since most enemies do not block it is easy to button mash. But it is nice because it gives the feeling that the player is allowed to be creative when they are fighting. The only strategic moves are the dodge and block, which work instantly and block most attacks.
There are two types of enemies: the cannon fodder that Kratos kills by the dozens effortlessly, and the big monsters. Like miniature boss fights, big monsters have to be worn down while Kratos dodge’s their attacks. When their health reaches a certain level the player can perform a quick time event to finish them off. Most of these are basic Simon Says events; press the correct sequences of buttons or twirl the control stick to finish them off. It is lame, but Kratos’ attacks are so amazingly brutal and fun to watch that inputting a series of timed button presses is forgivable.
The culmination of this setup, and the best part of the game, are the boss fights. Santa Monica really put some effort into making it feel like you are taking down a god. Like when fighting the big monsters Kratos has a lot of room to move around in and plenty of attacks, so fighting the gods never feel repetitive. And they always culminate in epic quick time events where Kratos, in a creative fashion, utterly destroys his opponent. Even though the player is not doing anything directly, it still feels like an accomplishment to see Kratos take down someone like Poseidon, or Cronos.
When Kratos kills a god he gets an item. A few are tools that help him solve puzzles, and the others are additional weapons. The tools are useful, but the weapons do not differ much from Kratos’ first weapon: two knives attached to his arms with long chains that can attack things up close and from a distance.
Each item comes with its own magic attack, an extra powerful attack that drains a magic meter, so it can only be used a couple of times. Items also have their own meter, but that refills automatically.
Every time Kratos’ kills an enemy it drop red orbs. The player uses the orbs to upgrade their weapons, making them stronger or unlocking more combos for Kratos to use. Red orbs can also be found in hidden treasure chests, along with orbs that replenish Kratos’ health and magic. Kratos also occasionally finds items that increase his various meters.
There is one serious problem with the game play: Kratos’ double-jump ability. For some reason the game only sometimes recognizes when the player presses the jump button a second time. And the player cannot do it quickly, you have to lift your thumb all the way off the button and press it down again, a problem when you need to quickly get across. I died more times trying to jump across something than I did in any fights. Thankfully jumping over pits is not a huge part of the game, and Kratos has unlimited lives, though it is a pain going through all the loading screens again.
The story is flawed; the writers should have just stuck with Kratos picking off the gods one by one. Instead they added this plot about needing Pandora’s Box to kill Zeus which does not fit really well with the mythology of the game, especially with needing Pandora to actually open it. The game explains why near the end, but it feels like the writers were trying to shoehorn new story into their current game and it does not fit well. And then there is this part at the end that tries to explain the god’s behavior that reads like it is trying to make Kratos’ actions seem less psychotic, and it does not work either compared to all the people Kratos has killed over the course of the series.
The level design is interesting in that it feels like one long level that is only broken up by cut scenes. Given that the game is supposed to take place in the home of the gods, something more abstract or ostentatious than caves and basic Greek palaces would have been nice. It does not stop Mount Olympus from looking great though.
God of War III is a fun, mindless and violent game. It only stumbles in the story and jumping, and those are not necessary to enjoy its combat, which is the best part.
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